From Monday, December 1st, Georgian workers in Poland will face stricter regulations on their employment.
Previously, there was a simplified employment procedure for Georgian citizens in Poland—making it a top European Union destination for Georgian workers. Now, a new edict from Poland’s labour minister has overturned the current arrangements.
To date, citizens of Armenia, Belarus, Georgia, Moldova, and Ukraine could all enjoy up to 24 months of work for Polish employers, who had access to a simplified recruitment process.
Moving forward, Georgia will be excluded from this opportunity. Georgian citizens already registered as working in Poland under the scheme may continue until it expires. Different rules will also apply to Georgian seasonal workers (whose contracts last for a typical nine-month timespan).
The jargon-spewing labour ministry of Agnieszka Dziemianowicz-Bąk explained the change in terms of the “political situation in Georgia,” “the state of bilateral relations,” and the “ongoing conceptual work” of removing Georgians from visa-free travel within the EU.
On the surface, this appears to be a technical issue of labour market regulation, yet it fits with a pattern of Donald Tusk’s pro-Brussels government penalising sovereigntist Georgians for voting the ‘wrong way.’
